Trials of A Guardian
by Phoenix Ride
Summary: What would happen if Knuckles died? Who would his successor be? With no echidnas for him to mate with, the new Guardian would have to be one of his friends. Yet, who is worthy of this title? You'll have to read to find out! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Next In Line

**Trials of A Guardian**

**By: Phoenix Ride**

**Ch.1: Next In Line**

It was another peaceful day on Mobious; the sun was shining, birds were singing, and Eggman hadn't been spotted for miles around. Usually the Good Doctor spoiled all the peace and quiet with one of his lame attempts to destroy Sonic, but not today. And for that Knuckles was glad.

Lying back on his familar postion on the Master Emerald's alter, Knuckles sat back and wondered, again, why he was given the job of being the Master Emerald's guardian. He hadn't exactly been chosen for the job.

Usually, when the time comes for the choosing of a Guardian, the previous Guardian must speak to the Master Emerald so that it will know who is its protector. That way the Guardian could use its power anytime he or she wished.

Knuckles had no one to vouch for him in becoming Guardian. The Master Emerald had accepted him on his own, and recgonized him as a loyal protector. Through many trials and hardships Knuckles had lost his fear that he couldn't protect the emerald from the most evil of forces.

Yet one thing still nagged at his mind, striking a fear that was long over due. Who would be his successor?

The entire echidna race had been wiped out years ago. There were no female echidnas for Knuckles to mate with. The Guardian line would cease with his death. Just the mere thought of that event made a chill run down Knuckles spine.

Sitting legs crossed, Knuckles closed his eyes and started reflecting on the mental images of his friends. Could one of them be trusted as a future Guardian?

Sonic and Tails were probably to immature. Vector and Espio were loyal friends, maybe they could be trusted. Rouge, she would probably just want to add the Master Emerald to her stolen jewel collection, which she still tried to do on occassion.

Shadow, maybe, the black and red hedgehog never let anything get in his way. However his mood always seemed to sift from good to evil depending on the situation.

"Must be because of his past," said Knuckles with a sigh.

The sun had just began to disappear over the horizion, and the blanket of darkness started to seep in. Getting up to his feet, Knuckles turned and locked his glowing, voilet eyes on the shining green beauty of the Master Emerald.

Reaching out one of his spiked, gloved hands, the crimson echidna touched the surface of the Master Emerald and gazed at it longingly, his eyes searching for an answer in its mystic glow.

"Who will my successor be?" said Knuckles softly, looking down at his feet.

The Master Emerald glowed, but provided no answer. With only a few more minutes of twilight remaining, Knuckles bed the Master Emerald goodnight and headed to his cabin, that was about ten yards from the Master Emerald, to sleep for the night.

As the full moon rose, and its Guardian went to sleep, the Master Emerald started to glow a very bright green. The Chaos Emeralds heard the Master Emerald's call and began to glow as well.

Rising up from the ring that Knuckles had formed out them in front of the Master Emerald, all the Chaos Emeralds, minus one, rose into the air and shot off into the distance. Where were they going? Only the next chapter will tell.


	2. Chapter 2: Wierd Lights

**Ch.2: Wierd Lights**

* * *

**Sonic's House**

* * *

Sonic was busy watching a telephon about his herioc adventures. The hedgehog prided himself to see how well he did in action. That, and he liked seeing the pained expression on Eggman's face everytime he beat him.

Getting hungry, Sonic abandoned the T.V. and speeded to the kitchen to get a well-deserved late night snack. But, just as he about to put the top bun on his massive hero sandwhich, something suddenly smashed through his kitchen window.

Quickly dropping into a fighting stance, Sonic readied himself to fend off the surprise attacker. His stance relaxed however when he saw his attacker was none other than the Blue Chaos Emerald.

"What's that doing here?" said Sonic, reaching his hand out to grab the emerald.

As soon as he touched it, a bright blue glow suddenly engulfed the whole room. When the glow disappeared, both Sonic and the emerald were gone.

* * *

**Tails Workshop**

* * *

The twin-tailed fox was hard at work at a very important project; fixing Amy's VCR. After having a little tiff with Sonic, the pink hedgehog had taken out her anger on the VCR, smashing it to bits with her hammer.

Ashamed at the damage she had done, she had brought her VCR to Tails hoping that he would fix it. It had taken a long time to fix, just one more twist of the screw and it was done!

Wiping off some sweat from his forehead Tails smiled at his latest achievement and then let out a long, loud yawn. Jumping down from his stool, Tails was about to head back inside his house and go to sleep when something crashed through his workshop window.

Getting in defense position, Tails readied himself to fend off his attacker, but his stance relaxed when he saw it was the Yellow Chaos Emerald.

"What's that doing here?" asked Tails, reaching out to grab the emerald.

As soon as he touched it, a bright yellow glow engulfed the whole room. When the light vanished, both Tails and the Chaos Emerald were gone.

* * *

**Rouge's House**

* * *

Rouge had just finished a nice, warm bubblebath, washing away all her tensions. Slipping on red nightgown, with a rynestone collar over her regualar clothes the female bat stretched out a yawn and headed over to her bed.

However, just as she started to snuggle under the covers, a crash through her bedroom window suddenly put her on alert. Looking around, Rouge was surprised to see the Pink Chaos Emerald floating just a few feet in front of her.

"Hello" said Rouge, reaching for the Chaos Emerald " what's a beauty like you doing here?"

As her hand touched the emerald, a bright pink glow engulfed the whole room. When the light vanished, both Rouge and the emerald were gone.

* * *

**Space Colony ARK**

* * *

Shadow just stood at one of the ARK's viewing windows, watching as the planet Mobious continued it's rotating dance. He had considered a long time ago that maybe he should leave the ARK and start looking for a home on the surface, but he quickly disregarded the idea.

It was to akward for him to be hanging out on the surface. The ARK had been his home ever since he was born, and he wasn't just about to abandon his home for a normal life.

Suddenly, something decided to crash through the viewing window, making a small hole in the glass. Thinking it was an intruder, Shadow turned, ready to throw a Chaos Spear when he saw that his intruder was none other than the Red Chaos Emerald.

"What's that doing here?" said Shadow, relaxing his guard " did it fly all the way here by itself,"

Curiously, but cautiously, Shadow reached out one his hands to the floating Chaos Emerald. As soon as his fingers touched the surface, a bright red light engulfed the whole room. When the light vanished, both Shadow and the Chaos Emerald were gone.

* * *

**Chaotix House-Living Room**

* * *

Espio was in deep meditation, trying to focus his mantra for a peaceful sleeping style, when a crash through the living room window suddenly alerted him to danger. Shaking off his medative trance, Espio jumped up ready for a fight when he saw the Purple Chaos Emerald floating before him.

"What's this doing here?" said Espio, reaching for the emerald.

As soon as the chamleon's hand touched the emerald's surface, a bright purple light engulfed the room. When the light disappeared, both Espio and the emerald were gone.

* * *

**Chaotix House-Vector's Office**

* * *

Vector was busy finishing up some last minute paperwork, and listening to some tunes, that he didn't hear the crash through his office window. It was only when he looked up from his paperwork that he spotted the Green Chaos Emerald floating right before him.

"What's that doing here?" said Vector.

Curious, Vector reached out to touch the emerald. And, of course, as soon as he did, a bright green light engulfed the whole room. When the light vanished, both Vector and the Chaos Emerald were gone.


	3. Chapter 3: Blame Knuckles

**Ch.3: Blame Knuckles**

Early the next morning, all the victims kidnapped by the Chaos Emeralds reappeared on Angel Island. Everyone's eyes were wide with confusion at why they were all here.

"What happened?" said Sonic " where are we?"

"Somewhere on Angel Island by the looks of it," said Espio.

"The Chaos Emeralds must have brought us here" said Shadow " but why?"

"Bet you one person can tell us why" said Rouge, removing her nightgown to reveal she still wore her regualar clothes underneath " and his name is Knuckles,"

"The Master Emerald shrine isn't to far from here" said Vector " let's go ask,"

Tails flew ahead of the group, just as confused as the others were. Did Knuckles bring them here? If he did, why? It had be some sort of emergency or else the Guardian wouldn't have sent the Chaos Emeralds to find them. Which had disappeared as soon as they got to the island by the way.

When the twin-tailed fox finally had the Master Emerald alter in his sights, his eyes widened in horror and he let out a scream. The others who were following behind Tails, heard his scream, and instantly ran over to his position, where they found the twin-tailed fox shivering in fear.

"Tails, what's wrong?" Sonic asked his friend.

Tails said nothing, and just pointed his finger at the alter. Everyone looked up at the alter and gasped when they saw the same horrible sight that Tails had saw. Trapped inside the Master Emerald was none other than, thier dear friend, Knuckles the Echidna.

"How...how's that possible?" said Rouge, trying to conceal the terror in her voice.

"It shouldn't be," said Shadow, flatly.

"Is he awake in there?" asked Vector.

Knuckles appeared to be sitting in a medative state, and his eyes were closed. Sonic rushed up the steps of the alter and tapped on the Master Emerald's surface, seeing if it would wake Knuckles up. Luckily, for all present, it did.

Knuckles voilet eyes widened in surprise when he saw Sonic and the others were on his island. Surprise changed to horror, once he realized where he was.

"Get me out of here!" yelled Knuckles.

"Don't worry bud" said Sonic "we'll get you out,"

"That cannot be allowed," said a deep voice, stopping Sonic in his tracks.

"Who said that!" yelled Vector.

"I did," answered the voice.

"It's coming from the Master Emerald," said Tails.

"Maybe because it is the Master Emerald!" shouted Knuckles, as if it were obivous. " why did you trap me in here?"

"Why, to grant your wish of course," said the Master Emerald.

"What wish?" said Knuckles.

"You asked who your successor would be" said the Master Emerald, as if it were obivous " I intend to answer that question,"

"I don't care what's going on!" said Sonic, shouting at the Master Emerald " you'd better let him out right now!"

"Only when I find the next Guardian" said the Master Emerald " until then the Guardian shall remain inside of me. In the meantime you and your friends must face three terrible trails. The trails of past, present, and future,"

"If we do this" said Shadow " then he'll be free?"

"Yes," said the Master Emerald.

"Well guys?" said Tails, looking at the others.

"I don't see where we have any choice in the matter" said Rouge " let's go for it,"

"Yeah!" said Vector " bring it on!"

Espio and Shadow just nodded in agreement.

"Sonic?" said Tails, looking up at his friend.

"Alright fine" said Sonic to the Master Emerald " we accept your challenge,"

"Then let us begin" said the Master Emerald " with a journey to the past,"

A bright green glow suddenly engulfed Sonic and the rest of his team. When the light vanished, Knuckles was still trapped inside the Master Emerald, but everyone else was gone.


	4. Chapter 4: Meet The Legion

**Ch.4: Meet The Legion**

When Sonic and the gang reappeared, thier bodies were ghost-like, and they were standing in front of the past Master Emerald alter. This one wasn't in ruins like the present one was. The stone canopy that orginally hung above the Master Emerald was there, as well as the seven pillars that held home to the seven Chaos Emeralds.

An echidna suddenly approached the alter, carrying an egg in his hands. It was all Sonic could do not to gasp in shock. The echidna almost looked exactly like Knuckles, except older, and had a beard.

He placed the egg he was carrying in front of the Master Emerald and stood back. Beams of light shot down from the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds, striking the egg.

The egg started to rattle and roll, soon a fist popped out, followed by a slimly, wet body of a scarlet echidna. By the white cresent mark on his chest, and the spurs on his knuckles, there was no doubt in Sonic's mind, that they were all witnessing the very moment of Knuckles birth.

While everyone else was staring in awe at how cute baby Knuckles was though, Shadow kept his eye on the older echidna as he walked to pick up his son. His expression may have been happy, but it was all just a mask. The older echidna's eyes reflected saddness and fear as he looked at his son.

"Why would a father ever look that way to a child?" thought Shadow.

Suddenly the scene changed, and Sonic and the crew were no longer standing in front of the Master Emerald's alter. This time, they were inside some type of research facility. A toddler Knuckles was floating in a glass tube made of water, while the bearded echidna they saw just seconds before stood monitoring the controls.

"What does he think he's doing?" said Sonic, as he witnessed several needles inside the tank, poke and prod at the younger version of his friend.

"How goes everything Locke?" said Eggman, suddenly entering the room.

"What's he doing here?" asked Tails.

The old echidna, Locke, smiled at Eggman and reported that everything was going postive. They had successfully created the Ultimate Guardian.

For some strange reason, Shadow couldn't help but experince deja vu. Who knew that Knuckles had gone through the same pain he had? He had been exposed to the Emeralds radiation as a baby, and now, as a kid, he was being pumped with chemicals in order to become the Ultimate Guardian.

"Looks like we do have something in common after all," said Shadow, a tinge of pity edging his voice.

"This is just cruel and unuasl punishment!" shouted Rouge " doing all these things to a child!"

Sonic, Tails, Vector, and Espio all nodded in agreement. The scene changed again, and this time Sonic and the gang were standing in the ruins of a burning city.

Dozens of echidnas ran through the streets as an army of black cloaks approached, firing weapons into the crowd. Some citizens tried to fight againist this dark army, but ended up getting killed in thier attempts.

"Father, No!" yelled a five-year old Knuckles, chasing after the bearded echidna.

"Knuckles, stay back!" commanded Locke.

"Well, well, well" said the leader of the black coaks, looking at Knuckles " so this is the Ultimate Guardian I had heard so much about. His powers shall be a great asset to the Dark Legion,"

"You shall never have him Dimitri!" shouted Locke, glaring at the leader of the Dark Legion.

"Oh" said Dimtri, blasting Locke with his gun. Making the old echidna fall dead to the ground. " And just who's going to stop me?"

"Father!" yelled Knuckles, crying on his father's motionless form.

"Why that jerk!" yelled Sonic, and spin-dashed towards Dimitri.

The attack proved to have little effect however as Sonic, still in ghost form, passed right through Dimitri. Sonic was shocked that his attack had no effect, and realized that he had no way of helping Knuckles as Dimitri approached the crying echidna.

"Come little one" said Dimitri " you belong to me now,"

"No!" yelled Knuckles, lifting up his palms at Dimitri.

A blinding white light erupted from the young echidna's palms and engulfed the entire Dark Legion. When the flash passed, every member of the Dark Legion army had disappeared.

Knuckles stared at his hands in shock, wondering what he just did. Sonic and the others were wondering too. How did Knuckles just do that?

"He just got rid of an entire army using Chaos Control!" said Shadow, shocked but impressed.

"But how?" said Vector.

"Maybe when he was exposed to the Emeralds radiation he absorbed some of thier power" said Tails " that would explian what the beams of light were about,"

"If he contians all that Chaos Energy" said Espio " then that would make him stronger than Sonic and Shadow combined,"

"Then why hasn't he used it?" asked Rouge.

"Maybe 'cause his father never got a chance to tell him about it," said Sonic, walking over to the others.

"Look!" said Tails, alerting the others.

Eggman had suddenly appeared out of the smoke and approached the crying Knuckles. Young Knuckles felt the hand embrace his shoulders, and turned his sorrowful, voilet eyes on the Doctor.

"Come Knuckles" said Eggman " there's nothing we can do for him now,"

"No" said Knuckles, shaking his head " I shall stay. I am the last true Guardian. My father's death will not be in vain,"

"I understand" said Eggman, turning away " but if you ever need anything, just let me know,"

"Thanks...Doctor," said Knuckles, as Eggman once again disappeared into the smoke.

"No wonder he keeps on falling for Eggman's tricks" said Sonic, his eyes sad with understanding " after the destruction of his race, Eggman was the only friend he could turn too,"

" It explians a lot, but that doesn't make him any less gullible," said Rouge, even though on the inside she was crying for Knuckles.

_"The past has been written and cannot be changed,_

_In the present burns a hopeful flame._

_In the future, the bell of turmoil tolls,_

_With the prize being the Guardian's soul,"_

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sonic, to the unexpected voice of the Master Emerald dropping in.

Instead of an answer, a glowing green light surrounded Sonic and his crew. When the light vanished, the past was left behind, moving Sonic and the gang back to the Present.


	5. Chapter 5: Purpose and Longing

**Ch.5: Purpose And Longing**

"Where are we this time?" asked Sonic, when the green light vanished.

The others were just as confused as Sonic. The surroundings around them didn't look familar at all. Stone shelves were lined with books, there was desk with book and a quill pen sitting on it across from them, and a small bed laying againist the left wall.

"Hey" said Espio, looking at Vector " didn't Knuckles once say he had a secret hideaway no one ever knew about,"

"Yeah, I remember that" said Vector, realization dawning " this must have been the place he told us about. Man, it sure is neat here,"

"Hey, look at this" said Sonic, picking up the book that had been lying on the desk " it's Knuckles Diary. Maybe this what the Master Emerald wanted us to see,"

"Well don't just stand there" said Rouge " read it!"

" I always did wonder just what was going on in that echidna's brain," said Shadow, perking his ears in interest.

Tails, Vector, and Espio were a little unsure on whether or not to read up on Knuckle's personal thoughts, but given the peer pressure they finally caved in. Sonic opened the book to page one and began to read.

* * *

_" Something crazy happened today. I was on my way back to Angel Island with some supplies, when something caught my interest at Sonic's house. From the sinister looks on thier faces, Amy and Tails were up to something,"_

_"I saw Tails go behind the garden shed while Amy marched over to Sonic and started flirting. As usual Sonic tried to run away from her affections and made a dumb decison to hide in the garden shed, where I knew Tails was waiting for him,"_

_"Not two seconds later, Sonic was blasted out the shed by a streaming jet of water. I couldn't help but laugh as Tails started to chase Sonic around with that garden hose. And of course Amy was still trying to steal a kiss. Between Tails, the waterhose, and Amy there was no way Sonic was getting out of there anytime soon,"**-Knuckles Diary Page 1.**_

* * *

Everyone laughed as soon as Sonic finished reading the first entry. Tails and Shadow had to be laughing the hardest.

"They got you good Faker," said Shadow, ceasing his laughter.

"I can't believe he wrote about that time" said Sonic " it was so embrassing,"

"Yeah, for you" said Vector, grabbing the diary and flipping to the next entry " hey, this one is about me and Espio, listen!"

* * *

_"This has been one bad day. Thanks to this stupid cold, I'm forced to stay in bed, while the Chaotix try thier best to protect Angel Island and take care of me. Charmy had taken charge of watching over the Master Emerald while Vector and Espio were in the kitchen making lunch,"_

_"I could hear the two argueing all the way to my room. I caught the smell of smoke about three times, sounds of broken dishes about four times, and the splashing of water about six times. there was no way this could possibly get worse...I was wrong,"_

_"A huge explosion suddenly thundered through the house, shaking me off the bed. Anrgy, I got up and stomped towards the kitchen to find it, and the two cooks, covered in whatever dish that had supposedly been in the microwave,"_

_"Vector and Espio were just sitting there in fear, waiting for me to make a move. Smiling slyly I grabbed a gunk of food off the wall and threw it at them. Before I knew it, we were all in the middle of one big food fight,"_

_"Charmy heard our screams from all the way outside and decided to come in and refferee. Finally, things settled down and we cleaned up the mess. After that was done, we were all to exhausted to cook anything so we had to order out for pizza instead,"_

_"If there's any lesson I learned from this, it's one thing. Never!...Ever! Put Espio and Vector on kitchen duty!,"**-Knuckles Diary Page 2.**_

* * *

" Ah" said Vector " that was a good time,"

"But it was also very messy," said Espio.

"Did Knuckles ever put you guys on kitchen duty again?" asked Sonic, cocking an eyebrow at Vector.

"Yeah" said Vector, handing the book to Tails " but it took a few months,"

"Hey" said Tails, flipping to the next page in the book " this next entry is about Rouge,"

"Really?" said Rouge, surprised " what does it say?"

* * *

_" That annoying bat was here again today, trying to get her paws on the Master Emerald. As Guardian, it was job to scare her off. It took awhile, but she finally got tired of the fight and left. Once she was gone, I was begining to wonder. Why did she even bother flying up here, if she knew it was my job to protect the Master Emerald?"_

_"That crazy bat had really got me wondering. Ever since the first moment we met, we've been at on each other's bad side. But there is one time with Rouge that I'll never forget,"_

_"It was back on the Space Colony Ark. Me and Rouge were fighting over the last of the Master Emerald's pieces. We were both standing there on top of a metal stucture, glaring at each other. Our breathing was hard and heavy, and our bodies were tired from our most recent battle,"_

_"Rouge ran over in order to attack me again, but a simple mis-step sent her plummeting off the girder. Without thinking, I reached down and grabbed her hand, stopping her drop. As I pulled her back onto the girder it was like our eyes were staring at each other for the first time,"_

_"It took a moment for me to realize that we were still holding hands. She jerked her hand away from mine, and accussed me of having a slight crush on her before giving me back the rest of Master Emerald. I apologized for hurting her and ran off before I could say anything embrassing,"_

_"Truth is, Rouge was right, ever since that one moment, and many others, my crush on her grew. But I knew it would never work out between me and her in the end. Not only because of her past as a thief, but for more personal reasons,"_

_"The curse of the Guardian, as my father said, is stated as follows...There is simply no time for love,"**-Knuckles Diary Page 3.**_

* * *

Everyone in the room was silent as soon as Tails finished reading that entry. Rouge didn't know what to think.

"Knuckles loves me?" she thought.

Shadow took the diary from Tails and was shocked to find the next entry was about himself. The entry read as follows;

* * *

_"Shadow, the most mysterious one out of my ragtag group of friends, yet he has had a past almost similar to mine. Only my enemy hadn't been humans, they were echidnas, just like me,"_

_"This nasty group called themselves the Dark Legion, a sick orginization where echidnas tried to enhance themselves by replacing thier flesh and blood limbs with robotics. I can still feel the life-draining force from those flames as they burned through the city, eliminating the members of my race one by one,"_

_"I remember the tears pouring down my cheeks as I cried over my father's bleeding, lifeless body. I remember Eggman being involved too, seeing as that he was my father's friend at the time. Hearing Shadow's own story, about the loss of his friend Maria, and Eggman's involvement had me thinking. He's not any different from me,"_

_"It's nice to have someone around who I can relate to, but everytime when Shadow dies and becomes reborn, his memories fade again and we have to fight him just to get him to trust us again. It gets annoying after awhile, but at least, this time, his memories decided to stay intact,"_

_"As I watched him battle with Sonic later on today, I couldn't help but feel jealous of the black hedgehog. Not because of his power, but because of his memories. Sure his memories may have been tragic, but they were also very inspiring,"_

_"Since the day he was created, he was born to be a hero. We learned that the hard way when the Black Arms had decided to attack. My dreams, are dreams of darkness. A demon lurks inside my mind, yelling, screaming at me, that it was my fault that the echidna's had been erased from exsistance!"_

_"If I had never been born, my people would still be alive and would have never had suffered such a terrible tradegy. I keep on whispering in my head that the voices I hear are wrong. But this truth is, I'm starting to feel that thier right,"_

_"Please let my friends keep me in shane mind, I don't want to drift into the darkness agian,"**-Knuckles Diary Page 4.**_

* * *

"Whoa" said Sonic, as Shadow finished reading " that's pretty deep,"

"Let me see" said Espio, taking the book away from Shadow " hmm, there's only one more entry in here, and it's dated yesterday,"

"Trail of the Present" said Tails, a lightbulb going off in his head " read it Espio! This must be what the Master Emerald wanted us to see,"

Conceding to the fox's demand, Espio began to read.

* * *

_" All these memories about my friends, my job, my family, all lead back to one thing... the Master Emerald. I am a prisoner trapped on my own island. Bound by a duty that has been passed down in my family through generation and generation. Cursed with a power others seek to control,"_

_"I envey my friends and thier normal lives. Thier free to do whatever they want whenever they want, while I'm stuck here guarding the Master Emerald. For once, I would like to be normal just like them, to leave my title behind and live my own life. But that can never happen,"_

_"I have bonded with the Master Emerald and can never leave it. This is my prison and this where I will die. And once I do, no one will care. There is no one to carry on after me, the Master Emerald will be stolen, and the world will burn,"_

_"Heaven help us all when that day comes,"**-Knuckles Diary Page 5.**_

* * *

No one knew how to respond after Espio had read that entry. But as soon as the chamleon finished a bright green light suddenly engulfed the whole room, transporting Sonic and his friends to thier final destination; the future.

"Now" said the Master Emerald " the real test begins,"


	6. Chapter 6: Final Legacy

**Ch.6: Final Legacy**

When the green light vanished this time, Sonic and the gang found themselves standing back on Angel Island, although, not as how they had left it. Eyes widening in horror, everyone could barely believe the horrible scene playing out before them.

The lush beauty of Angel Island was being torched by flames, a red sky hung above, black clouds of smoke filled the air, and the sounds of an army could be heard blasting at something near the Master Emerald's alter.

Rushing though the flames, Sonic and the others speeded towards the alter. Being the fastest beings around, Sonic and Shadow had the pleasure of meeting the gruesome scene at the alter before the others did.

"What is that?" shouted Vector, when he and the others caught up.

Right before Sonic and the others a battle was taking place between the Dark Legion and some kind of monster. This monster's fur was black as night, white crystal tips sported the ends of each of his dreadlocks, the talons and knuckle-spurs on his hands looked deadly sharp, and his eyes glowed a fearsome gold.

As he jumped up to launch an attack on the Dark Legion, Sonic and the crew gasped in realization when they saw the white cresent mark on his chest.

"It can't be," gasped Rouge.

"Knuckles," said Sonic, softly, his eyes wide with shock.

The Dark Legion tried thier best to keep Knuckles back with thier weapons, but it proved to have little effect on the angry, super-charged echidna. One of the Legionarie's turned to look to her leader, Dimitri, while still blasting at Knuckles.

"I knew it would happen this way" said the Legionarie " his Chaos powers are to much for us to control. Now he's going to destroy us all,"

"Yes" said Dimitri, agreeing with his Legionarie " he was much more powerful than I thought when he sent us away all those years ago. Oh, all the beloved tortures that took place in front of his eyes, especially the one with the bat was very enjoyable. I loved seeing his face wrung up in pain,"

Sonic and the others growled at Dimitri when they heard the half-robot echidna's statement. The dark version of Knuckles growled as well, he was through playing games with Dimitri.

Calling on all of his Chaos powers, a highly bright, green orb of energy formed between Knuckles hands. Flashing a sinister, fanged smile at Dimitri, Dark Knuckles unleashed the chaos energy striaght at the Dark Legion.

When the beam of light ran out of power and vanished, all that was left of the Dark Legion were black burn marks on the ground. Growling an animalistic howl in victory, Dark Knuckles dropped to his knees, and slowly began losing every trace of his dark form.

Once he had returned to normal, Knuckles, sad, voilet eyes took in the burning scene around him and cried. Rouge wanted so much so to go up to Knuckles, put an arm around the echidna, and catch his tears. But as soon as she took two steps forward, the scene changed.

This time, Sonic and the others were standing in the middle of the Mobious Cementary. Six graves were lined up side by side sporting the titles; Tails, Sonic, Vector, Espio, Rouge, and Shadow.

Knuckles stood in front of the graves, tears flowing from his eyes as he looked at each one in turn. Six red roses were clutched in one of his hands. Wiping away his tears, the echidna approached Tails grave first and put down a rose.

"You were to young to die Tails" said Knuckles, looking at the fox's grave " me and Sonic tried our best to save you from the Dark Legion's trap, but we weren't fast enough,"

Tails gasped in horror, as Knuckles approached Sonic's grave next and placed a rose on the hedgehog's grave.

"Stubborn hedgehog" said Knuckles " Amy still won't stop crying tears over you. Now I have to keep an eye on her so she won't do the same stupid thing you did after we lost Tails. Who knew you be such a coward,"

Sonic's eyes widened in shock, hoping Knuckles wasn't saying what he thought he was saying, as the echidna approached both Vector and Espio's graves. After he had laid roses on both of them he sighed and began to speak.

" Charmy's growing up just fine you guys" Knuckles said to both of the graves " heck, he's been helping me repair Angel Island and has even got a girlfriend now. Her name's Saffron, just in case you want to know. He going to come visit you guys whenever he gets the chance. Things just haven't been the same without you two loonatics hanging around,"

Knuckles managed to force out a small chuckle as he approached Rouge's grave, making both Vector and Espio direct their gaze downward in sorrow. Placing a rose on Rouge's grave, Knuckles sighed and sank to his knees.

"I'm sorry that I never got a chance to tell you how I feel" said Knuckles, shutting his eyes tight, trying to prevent tears " no one, not even you, desired to die like that. Now that their finally gone, I hope, for my sake, your death was avenged. Fly Rouge, and may your soul finally be at peace,"

Rouge could feel a small tear drop out of left eye as Knuckles got up and walked to the final grave; Shadow's. Placing a flower on it, Knuckles raised up his head, his eyes no longer showing saddness, but praise and gratitude.

"Shadow" said Knuckles, in a calm, clear voice " thank you, for keeping me sane. Although, I know you'll probably be reborn in one your clones soon, and I'll have to fight you again in order to get you to trust me, I'll never forget those final words you said to me before you died. Hope I'll see you again soon, my friend,"

"Friend?" asked Shadow, confused as the echidna walked away " did he just call me...friend?"

"How can this be our future?" asked Tails " we all die at the hands of the Dark Legion,"

"All except for Shadow it seems," said Espio.

"I can't believe that I died by suicide" said Sonic " that's so lame!"

"I want to know the reason why this all happened," said Rouge.

"Why?" said an eerie voice in response to Rouge. Sonic and the team turned and gasped in shock when they saw Dark Knuckles standing behind them. " the reason is very simple dear Rouge, all of you are the cause!"

"What's that supposed to mean!" Sonic demanded.

"You'll see," said Dark Knuckles, lighting his hands with purple chaos energy.

A strong, purple light suddenly surrounded Sonic and his crew as Dark Knuckles cackled in evil laughter. When the light vanished Dark Knuckles, Sonic, and the rest of the team were gone.


	7. Chapter 7: Terrors of the Mind

**Ch.7: Terrors of the Mind**

"Uh, my head" said Sonic, as he woozily opened his eyes " where am I? Hey everyone, are you alright?"

"Define alright," said Shadow, as the others began to wake up as well.

"Where are we?" asked Tails.

The room they were in was pitch black, with the only light coming from the glowing chains that held Sonic and the others chained to some sort of invisble wall. Suddenly, Dark Knuckles decided to come out into the light, bringing with him a glowing yellow cage of chaos energy, with the real Knuckles inside.

"What did you do to him?" growled Vector at the dark imitation of his friend.

"I didn't do anything Vector" said Dark Knuckles, grinning at his prisoner " like I said, all of you were the cause. You finally allowed me to be free and take over the Guardian's body completely, and for that I thank you,"

"Your not welcome!" yelled Sonic.

"Ah yes" said Dark Knuckles, approaching the chained Sonic " still miss your friend Tails? He went out with a bang you know? The Dark Legion's trap had orginally been set for Knuckles, they just managed to capture the wrong victim. Your leg was broken during the rescue attempt, and when the first bombs went off yours and Tails fates all relied on Knuckles,"

"Without your trademark speed to help you escape, Tails had run on his own while Knuckles picked you up and ran you to safety. However, all the punsihment Tails had suffered from the hands of the Dark Legion made him slow, and he couldn't keep up. You should have seen the look on your face as the whole, burning warehouse collasped on your twin-tailed friend,"

"You blamed Knuckles for the loss of Tails, but you blamed yourself most of all. If you hadn't got shot in the leg, your speed would have gotten all three of you out of there safely before the bombs went off. Finally, you couldn't take the pressure anymore, and with the flick of a knife, your life ended. The trauma of both of your deaths were first steps to my freedom,"

Tails and Sonic couldn't believe what they have just heard. Is this really how they were destined to die? Was it their fault that the future had turned out this way?

Dark Knuckles approached Vector and Espio next. The crocodile wanted so much to break free and give this dark creep what four, but his chains held him bound. Espio just settled for an angry glare.

"Vector and Espio" said Dark Knuckles, eeriely " what a shame that you and Knuckles feel right into the Dark Legion's trap. Shadow had come to Angel Island to report that Rouge had been captured, so you all rushed to the rescue. Shadow may have managed to escape the gas chamber, put you three, and your pathetic friend Charmy, walked right into it,"

"When you came awake you were in the Dark Legion's base. Thanks to Knuckles breaking the lock on your cage, you two, along with Charmy were able to escape, but not completely. You two couldn't bear the thought of leaving Knuckles alone to face the entire Dark Legion and ran back to help him, telling Charmy to run and get help,"

"I won't sugarcoat it, you two were killed on sight trying to protect your friend. Dimitri would have sucessfully recaptured Knuckles had not Shadow barged in at the time. While Mr. Ultimate Life Form here chaos controlled Knuckles out of harms way, your corspes were left behind for the Dark Legion to experiment with. You two were made into robotic drones, with only one goal in mind, capture and eliminate Knuckles,"

You could have heard a pin drop as the silence grabbed by Vector and Espio's shocked expressions. They had died and thier bodies had become machines for the Dark Legion to command? What kind of sick future was this?

"Ah yes, dear Rouge" said Dark Knuckles, approaching the chained bat " I remember your death especially well. While Knuckles was temporarily captured by the Legion in attempt to rescue you, he was put in chains and forced to watch your torture through a viewing screen,"

"Everytime one of the Dark Legionarie's cut a blade across your body, making you spill blood, Knuckles would cry and scream to the heavens. That was the last motivation I needed in order to be cut free from my chains and take over Knuckles mind. And I would have been in complete control too, hadn't it not been for Shadow!"

With that said, Dark Knuckles turned to glare at Shadow, who still had a calm face other than friends forlorn ones.

"You had to keep him in a shane mind!" Dark Knuckles shouted at Shadow, charging his hands with red chaos energy " well allow me to remedy that situation right now. If your past self dies here, your face shall vanish from history, forever!"

"Foolish echidna" said Shadow, surprising Dark Knuckles " you keep talking about the future as if it is happening right now, when nothing has been decided yet. Knuckles is our friend, and we will fight to make sure this world never happens!"

With that said, the chains that had held Shadow bound broke, and the black hedgehog envoked his Super form. Sporting a sly grin, Super Shadow launched a Chaos Spear at Dark Knuckles, blasting the black echidna into an invisble wall.

Seeing Shadow take a swing at Dark Knuckles boosted Sonic and the others spirits as well. Breaking their chains, Super Sonic and his friends joined the fight. Dark Knuckles tried to fight back with his chaos energy, but gasped in surprise when he noticed his dark powers were weakening.

"No, this cannot be happening!" yelled Dark Knuckles as Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and the others rushed into attack " I am the ultimate...Aaaahhhh!"

"Goodbye" said Rouge, as Dark Knuckles disentagrated " and good ridance!"

Sonic and Shadow slipped out of their Super forms and approached the glowing yellow cage that still held the real Knuckles trapped. Everyone else joined soon after. Sonic brushed his hand lightly on the outside of the cage and sighed.

" How we gonna get him out?" asked Sonic.

As if in answer to Sonic's plea, the glowing cage that held Knuckles bound filled the room with a bright yellow light. When the light vanished, everyone had disappeared back to the present, where the Master Emerald was ready to announce who it had chosen as Knuckles successor.


	8. Chapter 8: Shadow Bound

**Ch.8: Shadow Bound**

When the light vanished this time, Sonic and the gang were standing back in front of the present Master Emerald's alter. Knuckles semi-conious body lay at the bottom of the shrine stairs. Relieved to see his friend was alright, Sonic immediately rushed over to help Knuckles stand.

"Glad to see your finally out of the Master Emerald buddy," said Sonic.

"Sonic?" said Knuckles confused " uh, what happened to me?"

"You mean you don't remember?" asked Tails.

"I remember being trapped in the Master Emerald and the next second you guys were gone" said Knuckles, recovering from his woozy state " after that, I don't remember anything,"

"Well, it's good to have you back either way old pal," said Vector, giving Knuckles a quick hug.

"Now that if you got all the bonding out your system" said the Master Emerald " it is time for my Guardian's question to be fufilled,"

"So" said Espio " who did you choose as his successor?"

" I studied your actions through the trials of past, present, and future" said the Master Emerald " and the one I feel most confident to take once Knuckles is gone is you...Shadow the Hedgehog,"

"Why me?" asked Shadow, as everyone else gasped in shock.

"Who kept Knuckles in a sane mind when Sonic and the others were killed?" asked the Master Emerald " who is the only other one around who understands the Guardian's pain? Who else has suffered through being made the "ultimate" lifeform?"

Knuckles, Sonic, and the others stayed silent. The Master Emerald was right, no one else seemed fit for guarding Angel Island once Knuckles was gone except Shadow. Knuckles let the Master Emerald's decision mull around in his head a bit more before turning to Shadow.

"Do you want to be?" asked Knuckles.

"Huh?" said Shadow, looking at Knuckles.

"In order to become the Master Emerald's new Guardian " Knuckles explianed " the previous Guardian must vouch for whoever the new Guardian to be, so that they tap into all of its chaos powers,"

"Complete access to the Master Emerald's powers" thought Shadow " can I really handle that kind of responsibility?"

Motioning with his hands, Knuckles climbed up the steps of the alter until he was standing in front of the Master Emerald. After a few seconds of hesistation Shadow joined Knuckles at the top.

Knuckles put one hand on the Master Emerald's surface and told Shadow to follow suit. Muttering a few words in ancient echidna tounge, Knuckles body was surrounded in a bright green glow. Only a few seconds later Shadow was consumed by the glow as well. A glowing, white symbol appeared on the hedgehog's arm, before vanishing as soon Knuckles broke contact with the Master Emerald.

"There" said Knuckles " we are bonded. Congradulations Shadow,"

* * *

A few days, talk about the gang's strangest adventure was still a major conversation topic. Knuckles was still in the dark about all the things his friends probably seen or heard while on there trip.

"Whatever it was" thought Knuckles " it sure has changed their attitudes around me,"

Its true, with Shadow now working as a part-time Guardian, everyone else was jumping at the chance to hang around with Knuckles. Sonic and Tails had gotten overly protective around Knuckles everytime Eggman decided to declare an attack. Hopefully, the Guardian thought he talked them to tone it down a bit.

Meanwhile, the Chaotix had officaly declared themselves the fun police. Vector and Espio, along with Charmy wanted to make sure Knuckles got at least some fun in lonely life. It worked, about half the time.

Shadow was still a bit quiet and stubborn, but he wasn't to bad to have a conversation or good spar with. Even though his home was still on the Space Colony Ark, the black hedgehog always made an exception whenever Knuckles called him in for training and guard duty.

With Rouge, what can you say, Knuckles was having the time of his life! The bat had admitted her feelings for Knuckles and he had did the same. They were now, offically, a steadily growing couple and seemed to sped more time with each other than with anyone else. In fact, he was with her right now, sipping drinks at the cafe.

Rouge edged closer to Knuckles, and the echidna took that as a sign to encircle his strong arms over her body. Staring into each others eyes for a few seconds, the couple's faces slowly moved towards one another. As Knuckles lips crossed paths with Rouge, a single thought couldn't help but pass through his mind.

"If this is how my future is meant to be, please don't let it stop!"

**The End **


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